Erin Austen Abbott (see below) is the creative force behind the One Night Stand art show coming up this weekend in Oxford, Mississippi. If you can get there, it is sure to be the highlight of your year! She shares with us today about the show. “The first motel show was created when I was out shooting pictures one day, back in 2007. I was taking pictures at an old travelodge style motel, the type that you drive up and park outside your room, set in a U shape. All the doors had these wooden red hearts on each door. I had heard rumors that the walls inside the rooms were brown wood paneling. I suddenly had visions of T. Model Ford sitting on the edge of the bed, playing his hill country blues while fine art leaned against the furniture or replaced the current art hanging in the rooms.

I immediately found ten artist friends that were having a hard time finding places to show their work locally. The first show was set. I did the show twice the first year. The second being bigger than the first. Then in 2008, I took the show on the road to Los Angeles. In a town where it could have been a bust, it proved to be just the opposite. The show made the front pages of City Search LA and Yelp as THE thing to do for the night. It was also featured in the LA Times. With that support, 1500+ people showed up to enjoy The One Night Stand at The Beverly Laurel Motel.

The show returned back to Oxford in 2009 and 2010. This year will mark the 5th Annual One Night Stand at The Ole Miss Motel.

Next year will begin a new formula for the One Night Stand. Presented by The Yoknapatawpha Arts Council and The Motel Art Show Series, the show will be in Oxford every October and at an out of town location in the spring and fall.

In May of 2012, the show will travel to Brooklyn, NY, in September to Nashville, TN and again in Oxford to wrap up 2012. Then in the spring of 2013, the show will cross the country to Portland, OR and end up back in Oxford, MS in the fall.

For those interested in submitting work, please direct them to iheartmotelart.com.”

Erin Austen Abbott, born 1976, in Tupelo, Mississippi, studied photography at the Museum School of Fine Arts in Boston, MA and at the Photographic Center Northwest in Seattle, WA. She has had shows in Tampa, Seattle, Boston, Memphis, Los Angeles, Oxford, MS, Basel, Switzerland, Milan,Italy, Berlin,Germany and Water Valley, MS in the years 1999- 2010. Erin’s work is studied in the art curriculum at The University of Milan in Milan, Italy. She is also the creator of the “One Night Stand Motel Art Show Series”, started in 2007, a series of art shows transforming a motel and its rooms into a one night only art show, giving artists a chance to show their work in a non traditional setting. Erin has had work published in Esquire, Teen Vogue, Alternative Press, LA Times, Uppercase, and in Southern Spaces, an online journal for Emory University Press. Erinis currently living in Water Valley, Mississippi.

From Erin, “I opened my store, Amelia, in Oxford in August of 2009. Aside from running my store, I also travel nanny for the guitarist for the band The Flaming Lips, who has two children and for the band Mates of State. Several months ago, I also launched chARTer nannies, with three other friends, which is a travel nanny agency, pairing creative nannies with families that want to take their children on the road. Our clients are musicians, artists, writers, actors, directors. Families that don’t want to put their creative lives on hold yet don’t want to be away from their children.”

This weekend is the fourth annual Motel Art Show Series in Oxford, Mississippi. No, don’t worry, bad motel art isn’t on display, but rather local artists displaying their work in motel rooms. Genius, I say!

Erin Kirkpatrick (the newly married Erin Austen Abbott) is the creative force behind this idea and the store Amelia Presents in Oxford. In years past, ten rooms would be rented and each room feature one artist, but this year will include twelve rooms with twelve artists. While the name of the event changes depending upon location, the fourth year in Oxford, Mississippi will continue as, “One Night Stand at the Ole Miss Motel. ” Whereas a similar event produced by Kirkpatrick in Los Angeles was the “One Night Stand at the Beverly Laurel Motel.”

In their fourth year, and expanding in popularity and reach, the Motel Art Show Series teamed up with the Southern Foodways Alliance . Focusing on the Global South, the Southern Foodways Alliance is interested in how the world infuses southern style cooking into local cuisine. As a result of this duo, all art submitted to this year’s show will incorporate a global south theme. While not necessarily food related, and up to the artist’s interpretation, the outcome of art presented with this theme should be interesting.

If you are anywhere near Oxford, Mississippi this weekend (Saturday, 7-10pm) you have a date with “One Night Stand at the Ole Miss Motel.”

(Erin, we wish you and all of the artists the best of luck this weekend and I know both Ginger and I wish we lived closer to attend. Maybe next year?!!).

It is with great pleasure that we announce the online website for Amelia Presents. The physical store is located in Oxford, Mississippi in the heart of the city, but now we can all share in the goodness with their new website.

It was love at first sight upon entering the store, Amelia Presents. This is not your average seller of goods, but rather your eyes instantly grab hold of items of perfection. It is the skilled eye of Erin Austen Abbott, owner of Amelia Presents, who not only discovers all of these great treasures, but also merchandizes them so well. You will enter to find jewelry, book covers, ceramics, note cards, and leave absolutely loving the store.

On my visit to Amelia Presents I was overwhelmed upon seeing two striking photos of rooftop bee hives. My love for bees and bee hives has been featured here (and here) several times. Upon inquiring about the photos, I was even more impressed to know that Erin Austen Abbott was herself the photographer. With a series of bee hive photos from across the country and world, this is an impressive portfolio. Not to mention, Erin’s work also includes photos of faces, and Americana pieces echoing that of William Eggleston (also from Mississippi) where the subjects are ordinary, but the color and photos are spectacular.

I hope you will take your happy fingers and march them over to the Amelia Presents website or visit in Oxford, Mississippi. If you can make the trip in person, don’t forget to grab one of the delicious cupcakes.

We are headed down to Mississippi and up to no good. Actually, we are doing a lot of good as today’s giveaway is really exciting. Fat Possum Records, in Oxford, Mississippi, boasts several Mississippi blues artists, as well as, more independent sounds such as, Band of Horses. If you ask me, that is quite the spectrum of artists to sign.

Visit the Fat Possum Record website and check out all of their artists. Select 2 records of your choice, and leave them in a comment for this post by Sunday, April 25, 2010. You might select someone like Al Green, Band of Horses, Andrew Bird, Cecil Barfield, Furry Lewis, Jimmy Lee Harris, or Heartless Bastards. The fun part is that the decision is entirely up to you! Don’t forget that by entering you also enter to win a southern gardening and/or style book.

Over the past few years my family began the most interesting process of beekeeping. Since this time, there have been stings, harvests, and the most delicious honey. On our fall trip around the south we met Erin Austen Abbott in her store, Amelia in Oxford, Mississippi. To my amazement, Erin had these beautiful shots of beehives on the walls of her store. With a simple inquiry and even further excitement, we found out that Erin herself was indeed the photographer.

Below is the last segment of our interview with Erin. I know you will enjoy these photos and appreciate the sheer simplicity, and creativity and also be reminded that bees are amazing insects! All of the pictures below are from Erin and she can be reached at erinaustenabbott@gmail.com for details.

Q:While shopping in your store I was overwhelmed by the beautiful beehive photographs, which as it turns out, you took yourself. How did you decide to start a portfolio of beehives photos? Is there anywhere you are hoping to take pictures of other beehives?

Well, thank you first off for your kind words with regards to my photography. When I start a new body of work, I sort-of become engrossed in the project. It becomes like the hunt in a thrift store for the perfect Pyrex bowl, just for example. I seek out a subject matter that leaves me searching. My last body of work was tornado shelters throughout Mississippi. I began a search and found dozens and dozens.

With that said, I once heard about how in New York City, local honey was sold and that each batch tasted different depending on which borough it came from. I was hooked. I had to know more. I began getting these images in my mind of a hive on a rooftop with the whole city behind them. I found some beekeepers and flew up to take their pictures. I am proud to say, I shot that image that I saw in my mind while starting this series. I say starting because I do have plans to shoot more. On my honeymoon in Paris this spring, I’m hoping to take some there, and in San Francisco and Chicago. I have plans to take some rooftop beekeeper photos there as well. It’s definitely an ongoing project.

Thank you Erin for sharing your amazing photograhps, Amelia and your home with us!

In continuation with our feature of Amelia and Erin Austen Abbott, today we talk to Erin about the shop and the carryover from home to work and work to home.

Q: Your store, Amelia, was full of an assortment of items, from handmade cards to home decor and even soda. How did you/do you decide what type of image you want to project at your store? And, if applicable, do the items available in your store reflect your personal style?

A: Well, when I walk into store, I am drawn to the items that I can’t get anywhere else. I look for individuality. I also look for clean lines of the store. Good design. A “busy” store loses me and I can’t decide where to focus. Aesthetics are so important. I also wanted you to feel like you were walking into a vintage apothecary but for cupcakes, with tiny cupcake toppers and cookie cutters in jars, lining a shelf.

As for my personal style, I’ve been told by many that Amelia feels like another room of my house. So, yes the store reflects my personal style for sure. I love vintage everything, mostly the 50’s.

Erin was gracious enough to share pictures of her beautiful home with us. What a treat! All pictures below are from Erin.

Tomorrow will feature Erin’s most amazing photographs which consists of a project that is near and dear to my heart.